


The Star Wars IX we deserve, but will never see

by ArtemisDax



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Force Ghosts, Gen, Gray Jedi, Happy Ending, Jedi Training, Sith Academy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-28 21:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14458251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisDax/pseuds/ArtemisDax
Summary: An outline for Star Wars IX in which all loose ends are tied. Rey has parents, Leia does not appear, Snoke is explained, and is cannon compliant. Also BONUS ANTHOLOGY MOVIE!





	1. Episode IX

**Author's Note:**

> This was made in two hours on a long car ride with my mother. The goal was to tie up all the loose ends and curiosities in the sequel trilogy in a way that finished the naritive logically.

Rey is looking for others, but how. Nothing can be done alone, even with the stolen books stashed under her bunk. They fly back to Maz Kanata’s bar. Where else do they have to go, a handful of rebels in an ancient ship. They sit at a table in the back, drinking bad ale. The tables all have little games stuck to the top, to make you stay longer and drink more beer. Dameron has been to this bar too many times and has a favorite game. It is reputed to be impossible, the regulars either can’t put it down or refuse to touch it. Dameron is incredibly proud of his trick, he can beat level one on a consistent basis. It flashes happily in his hands. Finn grabs it out of his hands. “It can’t be that hard, if you can do it.” He fails. The little toy is passed around. No one even gets as far as Dameron. He goes up to the bar, and starts complaining to Maz. “You should put me on the wall. I beat a level!” “You have to get past level two to go on the wall,” she replies tiredly.  
The widget has landed on Rey’s lap. She doesn’t expect anything. But it seems easy. Just patterns, predicting what comes next. The lights flash. She doesn’t realize how far she’s gotten when finally the lights are too much and Poe comes back. “Can’t do it.” She hands it back. “Sithspit!” Poe shouts. The little number on the side reads 13. Maz trailed him back, and pulls Rey up to take her picture. The regulars clap. Poe sulks. Maz sticks Rey’s picture to the wall. It has maybe fifty people on it. Rey runs her fingers along the wall. Leia and Han in one, 11. Her smug, and Han glaring at the floor. Poe stands behind her. “Han could never get past level one either.” The pictures are in no particular order, having been pulled off for a closer look too many times. Some of them are signed, mostly faded ones, of men and women in rough brown vests. Rey doesn’t recognize the names. Eventually she comes to one of Ben, 13. Han looks resigned this time. A twi'lek with a ten. A signed picture of an auburn haired man, 12. A few later of a blonde man, perhaps a year older than Rey, holding a widget that seems to have given up and obviously laughing. The redhead looks annoyed next to him. This name she recognizes. Skywalker. An Anakin. She wishes Luke wasn’t dead, and he isn’t on the wall. Rey looks puzzled, and comprehension dawning glances at Maz.  
Poe is still complaining to Maz. Eventually she puts down the glass. “It’s an adept’s toy, an ancient one from before there were Jedi or Sith. You were never going to beat it, Poe. The best fighter pilots are a little bit sensitive, but they never make it past level one.”  
“What exactly is this,” Rey asks. It tests precognition, the lights are random, and you just have to know what comes next. It’s simple, just a little chip and a few buttons. You could make a thousand of them from just about any pile of random junk. Leia leaves, to talk the high and mighty into sending more men and ships, Rey makes widgets. The millennium falcon drops them off at bars all across the galaxy, with instructions on how to make more. They are entertaining little boogers, and no one even notices the beacon that only activates when someone passes level two. Billions play. A handful of hits. Soon Rey is chasing ghosts, most gone before she arrives, but some are still around. The young kitchen boys and sweeper girls. A cook. A bartender. An old drunk that Rey leaves alone. Some come back, no real adults, they laughed her off, but children and teens, some in their early twenties.  
The planet isn’t very populated, just a few little towns and one major city. The crumbling castle and the fields, forests, and mountains belong only to them. It is beautiful and the work is hard. Rey sometimes has to go inspire people for Leia. TRAINING MONTAGE.  
Ren walks into a bar, and begins to whisper into some of the student’s minds. He finds their planet, but planets are large, and no one will tell him the location of the temple.  
There is a a saber toothed monster terrorizing one of the towns. Rey is gone, but has drummed into their heads that they should help others when they can. It is large and strong, and they are scared, cornered in a cave. No way out. No way to call for help, except the one they dare not use. A force ghost appears. Anakin Skywalker, although none of the trainees know this. “There are worse things than asking for help. Pride is expensive.”  
The trainees drop their shields and Ren finds them. The monster dies. He lets them lead him back to the temple, looking for more students. Rey has returned. Cue screaming match. Neither of them want to start a fight in a room full of students, they are too valuable, but words are sharp. Eventually, “Would you both just shut up? I’m here to learn, from whoever will teach me. How about you both talk, and we choose for ourselves,” a voice pipes up. Both Ren and Rey agree, secretly hoping to turn the other.  
Time passes, they train. The force is more forthcoming. Ren tells Rey the story of Snoke is Plagueis. Rey and Ren explore the techniques in the force books. Rey leads a mediation meant to ‘bring back the past’ whatever that means. She is hoping for her parents. He is hoping for Vader. Neither gets exactly what they wanted. Rey and the older padwans pull them into a group memory that they were all too young to consciously remember. SEE PADAWAN ANTHOLOGY. They talk about remembering their past and the Vader deal being talked about. Ren reevaluates the world.  
An uneasy truce, a cold war. Leia has found more ships, but the First Order seems complacent, content to keep to its own borders, mostly imperialist worlds. The people on Cato Bight aren’t happy. No combat mean, no destroyed ships, means no more order, means no more money. They stir up trouble along the boarder, eventually blowing up the base Leia was attempting to negotiate peace terms on. Both sides blame the other. Rey knows by now Ren has decided to leave his mother alone, would not have ordered the attack. Ren thinks Rey is too soft even if it meant taking out most of the first order’s leadership. The thief from the last movie offers to sell information that it was the military industrial complex behind it.  
The first order and the resistance fight together for their right to make war on their own terms. Cato Bight wishes it hadn’t sold quite so many ships after all. But the funny thing about fighting together is its harder to kill each other after that. There is room in the galaxy for more than one system of government. Ren and Rey will never admit it but they have mellowed each other, no longer light and dark. Most of the padawans are something in-between. Ren and Rey kiss.


	2. Youngling Anthology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Extra explanation for Rey's backstory. Also a cool bounty hunter movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Following movie rules, nobody is dead unless you see the body.  
> 2\. Does anyone else think it is a bit odd that we don't see the younglings die? We see a lot of other people die. We see other children die. It would make plot sense to really drive the point home that there is no turning back from the dark side at this point.

“What should we do Master Skywalker, they’re are too many of them!”  
“Run. Run far. If I ever see any of you again I will kill you.”  
Skywalker levitates a few of the bodies from outside and slices them into unrecognizable meat. No one would know. With the youngling training helmets left on the floor people would just assume.  
They take the tunnels. The tunnels they weren't supposed to know about. A secret passed on from youngling to youngling that all of the masters must know about but carefully don’t acknowledge. On the way, they meet two padawans, also running. The tunnels lead out into a shady alley a few blocks away. One of the padawans thinks it was designed for a quick exit centuries ago. Their robes come off, tossed in the dumpster. White shirts and dark pants aren’t that conspicuous. One of the padawans starts mutilating the lightsabers. The precious crystals go into pockets.  
The next few years are spent on the streets, using their skills to steal, occasionally being runners for the adult gangs. They see Darth Vader on the news, and aren’t stupid. Anger, but gratitude too. He didn’t have to let them go. All the same, they stay away from the upper levels and the temple district.  
Eventually, they buy passage to Corellia. They are older now, wise in the ways of the streets. Gambling halls are easy to knock over, even for younglings. Their crystals stay in their pockets, or on little strands of rope around necks or wrists. They are a family now, a pack. Years pass, and they get attention from the bigger gangs. A talent for knowing things they shouldn’t, a bit too much strength behind every punch. But no one suspects, careful not to do anything too Jedi-like. Darth Vader keeps his promise. Every once and a while another familiar name dies on the news. He could find them, if he wanted, but they aren’t a threat, even they know it. It mixes with the gratitude and stings.  
Eventually, they buy a ship, chase bounties. Finally assemble a few lightsabres. The padawans knew how. It’s a dream of another time, they aren’t very good, but sparring is fun. No one ever talks about trying for Vader. They don’t take imperial jobs, and none are offered, even as Vader works with other bounty hunters, ones with a worse reputation. He knows who they are.  
But nothing lasts forever. The second death star implodes, taking the Vader and the Emperor with it, and their deal. It makes them strangely nervous. But nothing happens. Luke Skywalker opens his ‘Jedi temple’ they talk a lot, but ignore it. It doesn’t have anything to do with them. But time passes, and they relax, have children. It is nice to have new people.  
But Ben Solo and Snoke, the First Order. There is no more deal, and they must move slower now, with young children. Ben Solo killed the others at the temple. They hide in the outer rim, drinking in smoky bars and arguing. Split up. Hide the children. Hide them in places they will never be found, not in the few months they would be there. The sand of Jakku is hot and rough. “Hush Rey, we’ll come back soon.” A little girl tugs at too strong arms and screams at the leaving ship.  
All across the galaxy, they show their powers. Little, unthreatening ways. But the response is crushing, from all around. Too many stormtroopers. They had always thought that even if they lost people, there would be someone to take the children and hide. But they were only ever younglings and there is no one else.


End file.
